New Releases May 2008
Nigel Havers Playing With Fire
When Nigel Havers went to make the film A Passage to India for David Lean, he
survived - despite Rex Harrison's prediction that he would die in India.
However he had to contend with recalcitrant extras, marauding monkeys and a
grumpy Dame Peggy… Nigel Havers' memoir takes us from a schoolboy production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream to the red carpet on Oscar Night with Chariots of
Fire, via starring roles in the West End, classic television series and a cameo
in Little Britain. The Hollywood blockbusters that made him a household name
are only the beginning. With characteristic modesty, charm and a captivating
eye for the absurd, he treats us to the highlights and lowlights of a life like
no other.
Autobiography 9781847821942 376pp
James Patterson & Maxine Paetr The 6th Target
When a gunman goes on a shooting spree aboard a San Francisco ferry, Lieutenant
Lindsay Boxer heads the investigation. She finds three people dead and her best
friend and fellow Women's Murder Club member, Claire Washburn, fighting for her
life. Lindsay's promise to bring the killer to justice may be one she is unable
to keep. As the gunman investigation progresses to the courts, there is news of
a child's abduction and Lindsay is put on the case. Digging deeper, she
discovers that more children have been taken, and strangely, none of the
families have received ransom demands. Perhaps the kidnappers aren't planning
on returning their hostages… The clock is ticking and if Lindsay doesn't find
the children quickly it will be too late...
Mystery 9781847821997 400pp
Kathy Reichs Bones To Ashes
The skeleton is that of a young girl, no more than fourteen years old - and
forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan is struggling to overcome her
emotions. Coroner Yves Bradette insists that the bones are ancient and of no
interest. But Tempe, convinced that Bradette is hiding something, is also
nagged by memories - the disappearance of a childhood friend... Then Detective
Andrew Ryan requires Tempe's forensic expertise: three missing persons, three
unidentified bodies - all female - all early teens. Is Bradette's skeleton
another in this line of victims? Can she and Ryan stop the killer before
another young girl falls prey? Taking matters into her own hands, she uncovers
horrors from the past. Can Tempe maintain a professional distance in this, her
most personal case yet?
Mystery 9781847822000 424pp
Jeffery Deaver The Sleeping Doll
Daniel Pell is a contemporary Charles Manson. Obsessed with controlling people,
he had formed a quasi cult with a group of women in central California. Eight
years ago, he slaughtered a family, though the three women in his own 'Family'
were absolved of any part in the deaths. Now, Pell has escaped and Kathryn
Dance, interrogator and kinesic analyst, must work with her team to find him.
She brings together the three women, now leading normal lives, to help her find
out what Pell is up to. Dance must also find the 'Sleeping Doll', the one
surviving daughter of the original murder eight years ago. Meanwhile, Pell,
with a young woman he has manipulated to help him, tries to fulfil his
mission...
Mystery 9781847821911 640pp
Victoria Wood Victoria's Empire
In Victoria's Empire, Britain's favourite comedienne Victoria Wood travels
through the old British Empire in search of the legacy of Queen Victoria. As
seen in the recent BBC series, Victoria's irreverent pilgrimage takes her to key
places around the world that also share her namesake, from Fort Victoria in
Ghana, to Victoria, Nova Scotia, and finishing at Zambia's Victoria Falls.
Victoria's adventure was fuelled by her fascination with the Queen Victoria -
both her public and private persona; she explores how Victoria felt about the
colonisation being forged in her name and what she was like as a wife and
mother. In her inimitable fashion, Victoria Wood records her adventure tracing a
nation's colourful history - blending the outrage and eccentricity with a
celebration of the ordinary. We definitely will be amused.
Travel 9780753156797 288pp
Jonathan Coe The Rain Before It Falls
Rosamond lies dying in her remote Shropshire home. But before she does so, she
has one last task: to put on tape not just her own story but the story of the
young blind girl Imogen, her cousin's granddaughter, who turned up mysteriously
at her party all those years ago.
At the centre of the narrative is Imogen's grandmother, Beatrix, whose flight
from her husband after the war in search of freedom and excitement left a
damaging legacy. Damaging to her own daughter and granddaughter, but also to
Rosamond. She became caught up in the ensuing turmoil and found herself the
beneficiary of a sudden, intense happiness; a happiness which was just as
suddenly snatched away...
General Fiction 9780753180983 272pp
Tom Martin Pyramid
Beautiful young don Catherine Donovan refuses to believe the official verdict -
especially after she received a cryptic note sent just before the professor's
death, along with a collection of priceless antique maps. Teaming up with
classicist James Rutherford, she embarks on a journey that takes them from the
dreaming spires of Oxford to the ancient wonders of Peru and Egypt.
With a deeply sinister organisation determined to stop them, can Catherine and
James unlock the mystery of the ancients before they become the killers' next
victims?
Mystery 9780753180785 320pp
Leah Fleming The Girl From World's End
After the death of her drunken father, newly-orphaned Mirren Gilchrist is sent
to live in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. Struggling to adjust to the
unfamiliar rural lifestyle, she finds solace in World's End, a dilapidated stone
cottage at the edge of the moor. As the years pass Mirren marries roguish and
handsome Jack - but the arrival of war throws her life into turmoil. Jack
returns on leave a changed man, his dependence on alcohol all to familiar to
Mirren. As she struggles to cope with the violent, cruel stranger she married,
tragedy strikes and history looks set to repeat itself...
General Fiction 9780750528788 384pp
Beryl Kingston Octavia
A much loved only child, great things are expected of young Octavia Smith. While
her cousin Emmeline's ambition is to 'get married and have lots of babies',
Octavia's childhood dream is to change the world. It isn't long before the
determined young woman finds her cause in the suffragette movement, but will the
irresistibly dashing Tommy Meriton give Octavia's passions another path to
follow? With the outbreak of the First World War, Octavia, torn by her love for
Tommy and her desperate need to make her mark in the world, has to choose where
her destiny lies...
Family Saga 9780750528290 512pp
Duncan Stirling The Screaming Eagles
Iron Mike MacDonald was in charge of the squad they called the Bad Boys. None of
them were the sort to be interested in history, but that is what they made...
The 101st Airborne Division had been nicknamed 'The battered bastards of
Bastogne' after the German breakthrough into the Belgian Ardennes. Now on
Christmas Eve, 1944, Iron Mike's men are ordered out on a desperate mission to
save what's left of their crippled division. They must link up with Patton's
Fourth Armored by the 26th, the day the Germans launch their last all-out
offensive. It's the Screaming Eagles' last chance...
WAR 9780750528818 304pp
Maureen Wells Entertaining Eric
In 1941, 20-year-old Maureen Bolster began writing to her boyfriend Eric Wells,
stationed in the Middle East. Filled with warmth and humour, this charming
collection of Maureen's letters describes her life working for the war effort
back home. Uproarious incidents occur when she encounters lecherous GIs, immoral
lodgers and irascible landladies in her work first as a billeting officer; then
as a Wren courier, delivering secret documents by trains, boats and planes; and
finally as a Wren stoker. All the while, her thoughts are with her sweetheart
Eric as he fights for his country thousands of miles away.
Non Fiction 9780750528887 288pp